any planted tanks with larger fish?

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davdev

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Mar 28, 2010
613
2
33
Somewhere in New England
It seems the majority of heavily planted tanks contain relatively smaller fish (tetras, etc). I am wondering who hear has larger fish in their planted tanks, and how does that affect how they dose. For instance, larger fish create more nitrates and CO2, so do you take that into account with your plantings?

I am just getting started with plantings, and I have some larger Natives in the tank (sunfish mostly). So far they seem to enjoy the real plants after living with some fake ones for awhile
 
I had a planted tank with larger fish a few years back. It worked, at first.... larger fish create more waste, making it more difficult to keep the tank clean. It is also easier for them to tear apart plants, up-root them and nibble on them (which makes holes in the leaves)... Some plants do alright - as long as they have a large root mass and grow fast enough to recover from the nibbles... stem plants up-root to easily... mosses didn't do well for me either, getting knocked around all the time. I had good luck with Jungle Val though. And large swords.

As far as dosing/CO2 - I just dosed the same. In the end, I gave up - bought a bigger tank for the large fish and put smaller fish in the planted tanks.
 
One of the biggest concerns in a planted tank is too many nitrates which can lead to an outbreak of algae. Big fish produce lots of waste, and waste breaks down into nitrates. That is why most planted tanks are not heavily populated with fish. I also agree with the above poster on large fish damaging and uprooting plants.
 
The plants use nitrate for growth. I would argue that a heavily planted tank is highly beneficial to a tank with a large bio load. The plants reduce the waste and minimize the frequency of water changes.

I have a heavily planted tank with 3 large fish. See my sig. If I didn't have plants I would need to do water changes twice a week.

For fertilization I don't need to add any nitrogen or phosphorus. I add potassium sulphate and micro nutrients every other day. Iron and excel liquid carbon every day. I add C02 diffused straight into my canister filter. My power head is situated to create rippling at the surface for O2 uptake. I do 50% water changes weekly

The fish uproot plants from time to time but I just replant them. It takes alot of work but I enjoy it and the tank looks amazing. Some fish are big burrowers and are not suitable for planted tanks.

It can be done... Do you have the patience and time is the question. In the end your fish will appreciate the added plants. If you want to go plants with little effort I would recommend hearty plants like java fern, anubias, swords, jungle Val and creeping Jenny.
 
Hey Davdev, i've got a 72 gallon planted tank, with a black crappie, 2 Yellow perch, 2 smaller most likely spotted sunfish, 1 pumpkinseed, and 1 white sucker, check out my photos and pm me if you have any questions about plants. I stuck to val mostly since they are from North america, very cheap and look good,.
 
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